Dempster on dugout tirade: 'I'm allowed to be upset'

PITTSBURGH -- A crazy week for Ryan Dempster ended Wednesday with a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh and a dugout tirade after being removed from the game after six innings.

Dempster tossed an energy drink bottle, a cooler lid and threw a cooler before stalking off the dugout when manager Dale Sveum sent Scott Maine out to pitch the seventh inning.

The normally talkative Dempster was reluctant to discuss the episode afterward.

Was Dempster surprised at being removed?

"Yeah," he replied.

Was that why he was so upset in the dugout?

"Yeah," he replied.

Was he still upset?

"No, I'm OK," he said. "I'm fine. I'm allowed to be upset. I respect (Sveum) a lot. That's his decision. It doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. At the end of the day, he's just trying to do what's best for the ballclub. I have nothing but respect for that. Just the competitor in me wants to get out there and keep trying to pitch."

Dempster said he was upset that he gave up the lead.

"That's all it was," he said. "I've been taken out of plenty of games, so it's not a big deal."

Sveum said he was "sure" Dempster didn't want to come out of the game, but said to ask him about the episode.

"People are competitive, and sometimes they're going to get upset about things, you know?" he said.

Asked if that was the first Dempster tirade under him, Sveum laughed and replied: "Maybe visible."

Dempster knew it was a "really strong possibility" that this was his final start as a Cub. He conceded the week has been "a grind," but that he's "getting pretty used to it now."

He woke up from a nap Monday to hear rumors he had been traded to Atlanta, then said he was discussing his "options."

Atlanta Braves general manager Frank Wren said Wednesday that a proposed Dempster deal with the Chicago Cubs is "highly unlikely," while telling a radio station that the parameters of the deal expired Tuesday and they've "moved on."

Dempster said he "respects Frank Wren a lot" from his days in Florida when Wren worked for the Marlins.

"They also have a job to do, which is to better their team," he said. "They can't worry about waiting around for me to make my decision. I understand that fully, and if that's still an option down the road, that's something I'm going to look at. I'm going to try and make the best decision for me and my family."

By "down the road," Dempster meant a few days. Dempster said he'll have tonight and Thursday's off day to look at "a couple different things.. to make the best decision."

"I'm going to take a plane ride and try to enjoy my off-day (Thursday), if that's possible," he said. "Then kind of see where I'm at from there."

Wren's remarks to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and radio station 680 The Fan put the Cubs back at square one in trying to deal the veteran right-hander, who clearly wasn't that interested in going to Atlanta unless the Los Angeles Dodgers option was completely off the table.

Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush, who is on the road trip, declined to comment on Wren's assertion that the Dempster deal was unlikely.

The Cubs have not acknowledged publicly that an agreement with Atlanta ever was in place, since Dempster never agreed to waive his no-trade rights to go to Atlanta.

Bush simply said the Cubs are looking at every avenue and are "being asked about a lot of our players."

So Dempster takes the mound Wednesday afternoon against Pittsburgh in what figures to be his last start as a Cub. He could pitch next Monday against the Pirates at Wrigley Field, though it would seem the Cubs and Dempster have nothing to gain from letting the saga continue up to the deadline.

Dempster repeatedly has said he's only focused on the job at hand, which is pitching for the team currently paying him his $15 million salary.

As the trade dealine nears, Sveum said he hasn't been talking to Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer any more than normal.

"The conversations about all that (trade) stuff, to be honest, I don't interact with them all that much," he said.

Sveum added that his relationship with the Cubs' brass is "great," but feels there's no need to converse as much during the season as the off-season.

"Right now we've been playing well, winning a lot of games the last month," he said. "There's no insight on 'Should we make this move, should we make that move?' Obviously some are out of necessity... but right now they obviously have a lot on the table."